COSMIC ROOTS

Egdall, a lecturer on physics, grapples with the conflict between science and religion in this nonfiction work.

Born to Ashkenazi Jewish parents, the author’s relationship with religion has always been paradoxical. His mother was “conservative in belief,” while his father was an avowed agnostic who enjoyed ham sandwiches. As a 12-year-old, Egdall wanted to be a rabbi, but while in Hebrew school he found the story of Jonah and the whale to be too fantastical. Locked in a lifelong “personal conflict with religion,” the author turned to science “to find ‘the Truth’ of the universe.” Now a retired aerospace program manager, he still vacillates between “atheist and believer,” noting that a career devoted to exploring the cosmos has failed to adequately uncover the mysteries of life, as quantum mechanics and the complexities of space and time possess “a mysticism beyond religion.” In this book, Egdall not only reflects on his own experiences, but offers a history of humanity’s struggle to reconcile faith and reason. Divided into six parts, the book begins with the development of religion in the Near East, from the Ziggurat of Ur to the monotheism of ancient Hebrews. The next section examines a philosophical shift in ancient Greece, when thinkers like Socrates and Plato turned to geometry and astronomy to offer alternative cosmological models. The third and fourth sections discuss the rise of Christianity and Islam. The book concludes with sections devoted to the Enlightenment and the rise of scientific reason, from Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin to Albert Einstein and contemporary astrophysicists. As in his first book, Einstein Relatively Simple: Our Universe Explained in Everyday Language (2014), Egdall is particularly adept at distilling complex ideas into an engaging writing style that sacrifices neither accessibility nor scholarly rigor. While true believers and staunch atheists often speak in black and white absolutes, Egdall relishes shades of grey that will challenge readers of all convictions.

An absorbing reflection on humanity’s eternal quest for explanations.